On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 3:13 AM, Leif Halvard Silli
<xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> wrote:
> Ian Hickson, Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:06:47 +0000 (UTC):
> [...]
>
>> RATIONALE
> [...]
>> Non-CSS UAs [ snip ] can already draw table
>> borders on tables, so adding a presentational attribute for this purpose
>> adds nothing for them. [...]
>
> What use is there in having non-CSS UAs that are able to draw borders,
> if authors aren't allowed to use the very HTML feature that triggers
> them to actually draw them?
>
> Non-CSS UAS do not draw a single border unless one sets the border
> attribute to a non-zero value. The default styling of tables, is to not
> display the border.
The point is that non-CSS UAs can (and, apparently, *should*) do this
as part of their default stylesheet. The "default styling of tables"
is a UA-specific setting. HTML recommends a certain UA stylesheet but
does not require it, and non-CSS UAs can't implement it in the first
place (as they don't use UA stylesheets).
~TJ